THE GIUZZLY BEAR. 57 



hunters. A small party of English gentlemen killed seven 

 last year in Colorado ; two sportsmen killed six in Dakota 

 in a month ; and I knew a hunter in Montana to kill one 

 with an army revolver by firing at it from a tree. Num- 

 bers are poisoned annually in several parts of the West, 

 especially in Colorado, Montana, California, and British 

 America; hence they are getting scarce in the more fre- 

 quented sections of the country, and the survivors keep 

 to regions remote from settlements, except during unusual- 

 ly severe weather, when they make raids on farm -yards. 

 They are almost as abundant as ever, though, in Dakota, 

 Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho ; but the sooner they begin 

 to decrease in these Territories the better will farmers and 

 stock-raisers like it, as they are considered anything but 

 pleasant acquaintances. 



I have hunted the grizzly occasionally, but generally in 

 company with others; and while we killed one now and 

 then, yet no person could tell which had given the death- 

 shot, so that none could claim the honor. I bagged a large 

 male myself one time, but it was done in such a prosaic 

 manner that the only interesting thing about it was the 

 death. I was passing through a rugged precipice, trying 

 to stalk a band of mountain sheep, and, on reaching a small 

 abutment of loose rocks, I saw grizzly lapping up some wa- 

 ter beneath me. Taking deliberate aim at his head near 

 the ear, I fired, and a few moments later he fell over as 

 stiff as a stone. On examining him, I found that the bul- 

 let had entered the brain through the ear, and produced 

 death almost immediately. The whole thing was so sim- 

 ple that I scarcely felt a thrill of pleasure on gazing at my 

 trophy, and I left it where it fell, in the most unconcerned 

 manner, until my hunt after the sheep was over, and then 

 I had it sent for by the pioneer at whose house I was 

 stopping. 



Grizzlies are most destructive visitors to a camp a fact 

 which I learned on more than one occasion. The most dis- 

 agreeable visit that I ever received from one, however, was 

 during a trip I was making with a party of Indians who 



3* 



